


Mothers & Others Part I

by colormetheworld



Series: Tricks [8]
Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-14 18:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15394848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colormetheworld/pseuds/colormetheworld
Summary: Garrett comes to see Mae, and he has an announcement





	Mothers & Others Part I

It cannot stay perfect. Even as she wishes for it, Maura knows that it can’t - that it won’t - stay perfect. She and Jane celebrate the eight-month mark of their relationship, and the sight of the detective coming up her front walk with Mae fast asleep in her arms...well, it’s an image that Maura will hold onto for a very, very long time.

Maura does not remember giving her ex-husband her Boston address, but she knows it must have been somewhere in the custody paperwork. The agreement states that Garrett is always welcome to visit his daughter. It is his fault, not Maura’s that he hasn’t seen her for the past ten months.

“Garrett!” She hates how surprised and dismayed she sounds, hates how her tone makes him smirk.

He is glad to have caught her off guard.

“Hello, Maura,” he says, stepping into her foyer without waiting for an invitation. “You’re surprised to see me?”

“Yes,” Maura says honestly. She finds herself following him along the hallway. The automatic submission in her own home makes her feel ashamed and angry. “Are you here to see Mae? It’s been quite a while.”

Garrett stops to inspect a painting on the wall near the entrance to her sitting room. It is one of the first that Mae ever did, and Maura had it framed in the first week that she moved out.

“Well, if you hadn't decided to move her so far from her family…” he begins.

Maura cannot help herself from falling into the argument that they’ve been having for months.

“I am her family,” she says at once. “And Washington DC is not even a full day’s car ride from Boston.”

“Her father, her grandparents, her aunt… cousins. How much easier is it for two people to travel than seven?”

Maura tries to imagine Mae hanging out with the children of Garrett’s sister. She wonders if they have even read Harry Potter. She wonders if they own any denim at all.

“I have never denied you visitation with your daughter,” Maura says hotly. “Now, to what do I owe this unexpected and not altogether pleasant surprise.”

Garrett grins at her like she has lived up to his expectations.

“I’m getting married.”

He says it so casually that the full meaning of the sentence takes a moment to percolate in Maura’s brain.

“You’re...what?”

Garrett’s smile widens. “I’m getting married,” he repeats. “Surely you didn’t think that I would sit pining after you for always. You made it clear that I wasn’t what you wanted.”

Maura’s cheeks get hot at the implication, but she is determined not to let him get to her.

“Congratulations,” she says, genuinely meaning it. “I’m glad you’ve found someone.”

They have moved into the kitchen, and Garrett looks around at everything with burning intensity.

She realizes what he is looking for a fraction of a second before he speaks again.

“And you, Maura?” Garrett runs two of his fingers along the countertop, as though checking for dirt. “It doesn’t seem that you’ve found someone to upend your perfect order, hmm?”

Maura sits down on the stool in front of the breakfast bar. She clasps her hands together. She doesn’t tell Garrett about Jane, or about how she both upends and compliments the life that Maura leads now.

She says, “what do you want, Garrett?”

“I want Mae to be in the wedding,” he says, as though this is obvious. “Victoria and I want her to be the flower girl. Her eldest is going to be a bridesmaid.”

“Victoria.” There is no helping the derision in her voice.

Garrett chuckles. “You’re not jealous are you, Maura? It’s not so surprising that I should move on, is it?”

“I hate how you do that,” Maura says quietly. “I hate how you ask questions that make me sound unreasonable.”

“Perhaps that’s what you hear,” Garrett says silkily. “I am simply asking a question.”

Maura does not get a chance to respond to this. There is the opening and slamming of the front door, and the voices of her daughter and her girlfriend call down the hall to the kitchen.

“Mommy!” Mae calls. “Mommy, our car is so fast. There is no way that it’s going to-” and then she appears in the doorway, and her sentence cuts short.

For a moment, Mae stares at Garrett like she doesn’t quite recognize him. Jane appears behind her, looking to see what has ended Mae’s sentence so abruptly.

“Daddy?” Mae asks the question like she’s trying the word out for the first time.

Garrett smiles, holding out his arms. “Hello, squirt!” he says brightly. “Aren’t you going to come over here and hug your daddy hello?”

There is a moment of tense stillness, as Mae considers, and then she breaks into a grin, running across the kitchen to let her father scoop her up.

“Daddy!” she says, hugging him around the neck. “You came to visit!”

Garrett looks a little dismayed as Mae’s less than pristine hands come in contact with his shirt collar.

“Did you miss me?” he asks, pulling her off after a moment and setting her back on the ground.“How do you like Boston? Do you miss DC?”

Maura sees Jane frown at his questions.

Mae bounces from foot to foot, grinning. “Yeah!” she says. “I like Boston a lot. I have way more friends than I did in Washington. And Jane and me are making a derby car to race! And I bet it’s going to win.”

Mae’s eyes light up as a thought occurs to her. “Ohmigosh, Daddy!” she says excitedly. “You have to stay for the derby! It’s only a couple of weeks away!”

But Garrett doesn’t seem to have registered this part. He has straightened up entirely now, and at his daughter’s mention of Jane, he looked around at her, eyes narrowed.

“Jane, hmm?”

Jane steps forward, glancing questioningly at Maura before holding out her hand to Garrett.

“Hey,” she says. “Garrett, it’s - uh - nice to meet you.”

Garrett shakes her hand, looking slightly less sure about Jane’s cleanliness than he had about Mae’s.

“You couldn’t find a younger nanny in all of Boston, Maura?” He asks incredulously.

Mae tugs on her father’s free arm, giggling. “Daddy!” She says happily, “Jane is not the Nanny! Jane is our girlfriend!”

It is hard to say just how this information twists Garrett’s features. He looks surprised and, smug, and furious, all at once.

“Well!” He says. “Maura, my apologies regarding my comment earlier.”

Jane’s eyes narrow, but she keeps silent. Maura knows that if their conversation goes on like this, it won’t last long.

“Mae, weren’t you and Jane going to head out to dinner?”

“Yes!” Mae says. “We’re just getting cleaned up before we go.” She starts to turn and head out of the kitchen, but Garrett makes a noise that makes her pause.

“Well,” he says slowly. “I had made us a reservation for dinner,” he says, smiling at Mae like he is Santa Claus. “I have some important things I want to talk to you about tonight, squirt!”

Mae looks ecstatic, and then she looks crestfallen. “Oh...Me and Jane were gonna go to dinner together,” she says slowly. “We already planned, since Mommy has to go back to work.”

“It’s okay.” Jane’s first attempt does not sound convincing, but she tries again immediately, and the second time around almost comes out as usual.

“You go with your dad,” she says, offering a smile. “We can hang out any old time.”

Mae fidgets, excited. “Really?”

Jane nods. “Course,” she says. “Go get ready.”

Mae turns again to leave. “I’ll be right back, Daddy!” She calls excitedly.

“Wear a dress!” Garrett calls after her, and for several seconds, they just listen to Mae’s footsteps fade away.

“Well,” Garrett clears his throat. “This is quite a development.”

Maura steps closer to Jane. “Excuse me?”

Garrett smiles his oily smile. “I’m not saying that I’m not delighted for you, Maura. I’m simply saying that perhaps this is something you should have told me.”

“You’re getting married!” Maura says incredulously. “You’re getting married, and you told me about it three minutes ago. How is that any different.”

“Victoria is a woman,” Garrett says simply.

“So is Jane, the last time I checked,” Maura shoots back.

“She checked last night,” Jane puts in, making sure to look Garrett in the eyes. “Thoroughly.”

Maura almost chokes on her own tongue, and although his expression doesn’t change, color appears in Garrett’s cheeks as he understands Jane’s meaning.

“I don’t have Mae full time.”

“You don’t have Mae at all,” Jane snarls, beating Maura to the punch. “What kind of father just disappears from his kid’s life?”

“Please don’t voice your opinion on something you obviously know nothing about,” Garrett says, looking at her scornfully. “I know you left me for this very reason, Maura, but you could have dropped a note to let me know you’d...found someone.”

The tone of this sentence lets both women know exactly how he feels about Jane’s presence.

“Are you insinuating that I should have alerted you to my relationship because it’s with a woman?”

Garrett doesn’t answer, he only smiles between them for a long moment before turning and heading out into the hall.

“You ready, baby maybe?” he calls up the stairs.

“Don’t call her that,” Jane growls, following after him. “The kids who made fun of her at school call her that.”

Garrett blinks at her, mild surprise at her ferociousness. “She’s always needed a tougher skin,” he says.

Jane steps forward, close enough that she could touch his nose with hers with just another inch. “She doesn’t need to protect herself from her father. If I hear you call her that again-”

“Jane,” Maura says warningly, stepping forward.

Garrett smirks at her but chooses to ignore her truncated threat. Mae arrives at the top of the stairs seconds later, and she must be able to feel the tension in the air as she descends because she looks unsurely at Maura.

“Are you mad, Mommy?”

Maura holds out her arms. She takes a breath so that she will not have to lie. “No, sweetheart, of course not.” She looks up at Garrett. “What time do you think you’ll be back?”

“I’ll text you,” Garrett says vaguely, and although Jane looks mutinous, Maura only nods. She knows that Garrett won’t keep Mae out for too long. For all his cutting remarks, he does not really want that kind of responsibility.

He has always seen his child as a burden.

 

As soon as the door closes behind the pair, Jane slumps against the doorframe. Maura comes to put her arms around her waist.

“That was way harder than I expected it to be,” Jane murmurs.

Maura kisses Jane’s chin. “What was?”

“Getting ditched by a seven-year-old.”

“Oh Jane,” Maura says, pulling away. “She didn’t ditch you. She just-”

“It’s been forever since she’s seen her father,” Jane nods, “I know, Mo. I’m not mad at her or even hurt really...I just…” she shrugs, leaning into Maura’s arms. “I hate how excited she was. It shouldn’t be that way. It reminds me of my brother.”

Maura sighs against Jane’s chest and holds her tighter. “He’s getting married,” she says.

Jane squeezes her. “Yeah. Are...you okay?”

“Yes,” Maura says immediately. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“Will he try to see Mae more?”

“I...don't know. I don’t know anything about his fiance. He wants her to be the flower girl, but I think it’s more for show than anything.”

They pull apart and head toward the living room. When they reach the couch, Jane pulls Maura down onto her lap, kissing her neck.

“Jane!” Maura cries. “I have to go back to work. Don’t you dare wrinkle this skirt!”

Jane chuckles but smoothes her hands along Maura’s thighs. “Yes, ma’am,” she says softly.

“Now that Garrett knows you’re in my life, it’s only a matter of time before my mother hears about you.”

Jane is kissing Maura’s shoulder, and the noise she makes sounds like ‘idoncare.”

“You haven’t met her,” Maura insists. “She’s...not always a very pleasant woman, and she wasn’t pleased when I left Garrett.”

Jane pulls away, her face serious. “Remember what I said last month?” she asks. “After dinner?”

Maura smiles. They’d been coming up the walk, Jane had Mae in her arms, and she’d stopped to watch Maura ahead of her.

“What is it?” Maura had turned. “Are you okay?”

And Jane shook herself and kept coming. “For the first time, Maura,” she’d said. “I am much more than okay.”

Now, Jane pulls Maura in for another kiss. “I’m not going anywhere,” she says against the doctor’s lips. “But you can keep asking all you want. You’ll see.”

Maura opts not to spend the twenty minutes before she has to leave talking at all.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Three part story arc for you guys! Hope you enjoy!


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